You're a little late, I'm already torn
by thegirl20
Summary: During 'Torn', Cara is left in charge of the Kahlans.


"Is this really necessary?" the Mother Confessor demanded.

Three voices chorused "Yes", drowning out the one distressed "No."

Kahlan sighed as Zedd fastened the Rada Han around her neck.

"There now," said the wizard. "I'm sure we all feel a little safer for that."

Kahlan glared at him. "I'm sure you do," she snarled. "Can you at least unbind my hands? I'm not likely to do any damage with them."

Zedd, Richard and Cara looked at each other. Cara shrugged. Richard nodded.

"Okay, we'll untie your hands," he said. "But don't try anything."

The other Kahlan was already standing behind her mistress, cutting through the rope with one of her daggers. The rope gave way and Kahlan let out a gasp of relief.

"Mistress, your poor wrists!"

The confessed Kahlan picked up the Mother Confessor's hands, running her fingers over the red, broken skin. She lifted them to her lips, kissing the enflamed flesh. Kahlan pulled her hands away, roughly, making the other Kahlan stumble.

"They're fine," she grumbled, scowling at her grovelling twin.

Zedd cleared his throat. "Richard, my boy, come. We must gather together the necessary ingredients for the joining spell. Cara can mind the Kahlans."

Cara's head spun around so quickly she was sure it would come right off her neck.

"Me? I'm no minder," she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

The real Kahlan was bad enough with her continual attempts to make Cara _feel_ and _talk_. Now there were two of them. One of whom seemed to feel so much that she was constantly on the verge of tears. The other would confess Cara as soon as look at her. Cara folded her arms.

"Why can't Richard stay with them?" she asked, aware that she sounded like a petulant child.

Richard frowned and moved closer to Cara, lowering his voice.

"This is…delicate, Cara," he said. "Kahlan and I are…_close_. So it's strange for me to be in this situation."

"Whereas it's a completely normal day for me?" Cara asked, but she knew she had already conceded. He was the Lord Rahl, all he had to do was order her to stay. "Fine. I'll stay. But I'm not talking to them."

"We're not deaf, you know," the Mother Confessor chimed in, clearly unhappy at being spoken about.

"You don't have to," Richard said, ignoring Kahlan, his relieved grin speaking volumes. "Just make sure nothing happens to them."

Zedd was already out the door, calling for Richard to follow him.

"Just…hurry," Cara ground out from between her teeth.

"We will!" Richard yelled, closing the door to Kahlan's chamber behind him, closing the three women inside.

Cara sighed and slowly turned to see the Mother Confessor scowling at her, with the other Kahlan gazing adoringly at her mistress.

"Okay," she began. "I think we should all just sit, _quietly_, until they get back."

She moved to a chair and sat down, not looking at either of the Kahlans. She could feel eyes looking at her, but she resolutely refused to turn her head.

"I'm surprised at you, Cara," the hard, slightly sarcastic tone of the Mother Confessor reached her ears.

Cara didn't answer. This didn't appear to deter the Mother Confessor.

"I mean, I thought if _anyone_ could see the benefit in separating duty from emotion, it would be you."

That _did_ get Cara's attention. She flicked her eyes to where Kahlan had moved, standing with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.

"Didn't you tell me once that emotions make you weak?" Kahlan pressed, moving even closer to Cara and dropping her voice to a whisper. "You were right, Cara. I've never felt stronger than I do right now, without _her_…" She threw her arm out to indicate her doppelganger. "… to hold me back."

Cara noted the hurt that flashed over the other Kahlan's face to hear her mistress talk about her in such derisive terms. Cara frowned. She didn't want Kahlan to be hurt.

"We'd make a formidable team, you and I," Kahlan continued. "None of this stopping to save villages and rescue kittens. You and I could rule the Midlands effectively."

"Is that a proposition, Mother Confessor?" Cara asked, keeping her voice casual.

"It could be, take this thing off my neck and we'll talk," Kahlan said, tugging at the uncomfortable metal collar.

Immediately, the other Kahlan was at her side.

"Do you want me to rub your neck, mistress," she asked, reaching up to do just that.

Without warning, the Mother Confessor struck her across the face. Cara gasped, she hadn't expected that. Kahlan cradled her cheek, her head bowed. Cara pushed herself up and advanced on the Mother Confessor, backing her up against the wall, pressing an arm across her chest to pin her there. She looked into her eyes as she spoke.

"Touch her again, and the only place you'll be ruling is the Underworld," she snarled, her eyes flashing.

The Mother Confessor laughed.

"Well, well…looks like you've developed some feelings of your own," she taunted. "You'd kill _me_ to defend _her_?"

Cara felt a hand on her arm, pulling her away. She turned to see the other Kahlan looking at her, her eyes pleading.

"It's okay, Cara," she said, quietly. "She didn't mean to hurt me."

Cara looked between the two of them, shaking her head.

"This is ridiculous. Neither of you is Kahlan," she said, wearily. "I just want the real Kahlan ba-"

She stopped herself, but not soon enough, because the Mother Confessor's eyes lit up with amusement.

"You _miss_ your Kahlan, do you?" she asked. "You want her back?"

She glanced down, noticing that the other Kahlan was still holding onto Cara's arm. She grinned.

"I could command her to be with you, if you'd like that," she suggested.

"If that would please my mistress, I would do it gladly," Kahlan said, smiling widely at Cara.

"What? No!" Cara said, stepping away from the nicer of the two Kahlans, though it made no difference because Kahlan merely stepped with her, still clinging to her arm. "That's...I do not want that."

"No? You heard her tell Richard that she'd love you if he wanted her to…she wasn't under confession then," the Mother Confessor continued. "I happen to know for a fact that your Kahlan, the one that you _miss_ so much…" Her voice was mocking. "…has _feelings_ for you."

"Kahlan has feelings for everyone," Cara shot back, unwilling to let herself believe what she was hearing.

"Not like the ones she has for you…" the Mother Confessor continued, her eyes flicking to the other Kahlan. "Tell her."

Cara turned to find the other one nodding at her. "It's true," she confirmed, squeezing Cara's arm a little tighter. "She has all kinds of feelings about you…some of them she doesn't want to admit, even to herself, but she has them." Kahlan leaned closer, whispering near Cara's ear. "I can feel them."

She drew back and fixed Cara with a dazzling smile. Cara groaned. "This cannot be happening," she mumbled.

The harder Kahlan tilted her head to the side, appraising Cara for a long moment before stepping closer. "Perhaps you'd prefer to be with me?"

She stepped into Cara's personal space, a hair's breadth away from touching her. Her bright blue eyes dipped to look at Cara's lips before coming back up again.

"Or...maybe you want us both?" she surmised, beckoning the other Kahlan closer with her finger. "Then you'd have your whole Kahlan."

Cara felt like the walls in the room were closing in as the Kahlans surrounded her, sandwiching her between them. The Mother Confessor stalked around, pressing against her back while the other Kahlan moved to her front, smiling down at her, a hand coming to cup her cheek, a thumb caressing the skin there.

Cara's head knew that this was not something she should be even considering. Neither of these women were of sound mind. More importantly, neither of them were _Kahlan_. But her body was betraying her. She hissed as the Mother Confessor drew her further into her body, full breasts pressed against her back. Her treacherous hands went to the other Kahlan's hips, pulling their pelvises together and letting her hands drift upwards and around to Kahlan's back.

"Kiss her," the Mother Confessor instructed her willing slave.

Kahlan obeyed without hesitation, leaning in to claim Cara's lips in a sweet kiss like nothing she'd ever experienced before. Their mouths moved together effortlessly, like they were made to fit together. A shiver ran through Cara as another set of lips dragged over her neck and she wrenched her mouth away from Kahlan's to tilt her head, giving herself over to the feeling.

A hand sneaked around to cup her ass, while another slid up her abdomen to land on her breast, squeezing firmly. Cara was no stranger to all manner of sexual endeavours. But this was different. Since leaving her Mord'Sith sisters, she'd had very little opportunity to unleash her appetite. And, as the sharper Kahlan had already noticed, she'd developed certain feelings that she had never entertained before. Feelings for Kahlan Amnell. And she currently had two Kahlan Amnells at her disposal. Cara was amazed she was still functioning at all.

Just as she was about to throw what little caution she'd had to the wind, the Mother Confessor's mouth left her neck, causing her to emit a low whining noise. She turned to protest, just in time to see the two Kahlans meeting each other in a heated kiss over her shoulder.

Cara was sure she heard her own brain explode. She watched them kiss for what felt like forever before squeezing her eyes closed and taking a deep breath. She had to stop this before it went any further.

"No!" Cara shouted, finally getting herself together enough to act.

She extricated herself from both of their grips. She ran her hands through her hair and sucked in a deep, calming breath. Both Kahlans looked more than a little aroused, which made it even harder to do this. The Confessor straightened her dress and touched her hair, regaining her composure quickly. But the other one looked bereft.

"You…don't desire us?" she asked, her voice small.

Cara clenched her teeth.

"Yes, I do. You're both very desirable," she said. "Especially you."

She wasn't sure why the emotional version of Kahlan should be prettier than the other one. She suspected it was something to do with the hair. The Mother Confessor did not take this assessment well, though the smile Cara was receiving from the other one more than made up for that.

"Clearly you prefer to take lovers who are subservient," she snapped, with a pout that added to her attractiveness exponentially. "Afraid to meet your equal in bed, Cara?"

"Not at all," Cara drawled, a little of her self assurance returning at seeing the Mother Confessor rattled. "I just prefer my conquests to be actual people."

"Hmmph. Well, good luck getting your _actual_ Kahlan to admit to wanting to do this with you," came the response.

"I don't care if she never does," Cara said, and she meant it. "I'll just be happy when she's back. Now, both of you, sit on the bed and be quiet until Richard and Zedd get back to fix this!"

Cara took a seat a good distance away from the bed and waited for the other two women to do as they had been instructed. When they did, Kahlan sat down very close to the Mother Confessor, almost draped against her side. She was nudged away, roughly. Cara immediately tensed again.

"What did I tell you about touching her like that?" she ground out, still unable to see the hurt on the overly emotional Kahlan's face without reacting.

The Mother Confessor smirked, she turned to her double after a sly glance at Cara.

"If you insist on snuggling with someone, I believe Cara would enjoy that immensely. Go and sit with her."

Before Cara could protest, she had Kahlan on her lap, arms wrapped around her neck in a tight embrace. Cara shot a panicked look at the Mother Confessor who made no secret of the fact that she was enjoying this immensely.

"You smell good," Kahlan mumbled into her hair and Cara rolled her eyes.

But she decided that, rather than ask Kahlan to move and risk seeing those puppy-dog eyes again, she'd let her stay where she was. And, despite what the two halves of Kahlan said, Cara thought this might be her only opportunity to hold her like this. She lightly placed her arms around Kahlan's waist, settling her chin on the other woman's shoulder and trying to look as menacing as possible. It did not appear to be working on the Mother Confessor. Cara sighed.

Time seemed to slow to a halt, but eventually the door opened and Richard strode in, followed by Zedd. Cara had forgotten the position she was in until she saw Richard's eyes go wide. She quickly urged Kahlan to stand, hands pushing on her hips. She stood herself and moved towards Richard, ignoring both of the Kahlans.

"You have the ingredients?" she asked, her voice all business.

"Yes, we…was she just sitting on your _lap_?" Richard asked, confusion vying with amusement on his face.

Cara rolled her eyes.

"It was easier that way than to argue with her," she hissed. "And we will not be mentioning this again. Are we clear?"

Her eyes moved from Richard to Zedd and back again, the threat clear. They nodded hurriedly.

"Good. Now for the Creator's sake, fix her!"

-

Cara was tending to the horses when Kahlan entered the stables. Cara had expected this, but had still done her utmost to avoid it, leaving Kahlan to speak to Richard and Zedd for much of the day. But it looked like her luck had run out. Kahlan approached her slowly, coming up to rub the shoulder of the horse Cara was grooming.

"You've been avoiding me."

Cara raised an eyebrow. Kahlan usually started off more gently than that. Cara briefly considered denying it. But Kahlan had an uncanny ability to tell when she was being less than truthful, which had nothing to do with her Confessor powers.

"Yes. I have."

Kahlan nodded, appreciating the honesty. She continued to stroke the horse, avoiding Cara's eyes.

"Why? Did I…do something? Richard told me some of what…" she trailed off, a furious blush crossing her face. "He, uh, told me that you'd been left alone with both of them for longer than you probably wanted to be. If either of them did anything inappropriate, I'm sorry."

Cara bit back a smile as she remembered exactly how inappropriate both of them had been. There was little point in embarrassing Kahlan further. Her tryst with Richard was most likely enough for her to deal with. So Cara shrugged as she ran the hard brush over the horse's shank.

"Not particularly," she said, careful to hide her face as she spoke. "You were doubly annoying, if that's something you deem worthy of an apology."

She risked a glance at Kahlan and saw her smile at the gentle insult.

"Okay, I'm sorry for annoying you twice as much as usual," she said, her voice warm with humour. "So…nothing else? From Richard's description of her, I had thought that perhaps you might have gotten along quite well with the more…uh, forceful version of me?"

Cara's eyes closed momentarily as she flashed back to that Kahlan's hands roaming all over her body. But she shook her head.

"You mean the one who was intent on confessing me?" she asked. "Not really. I preferred the other one."

She bit her lip, frowning. Why had she felt the need to say that? Kahlan looked equally surprised by her admission.

"You did?" she probed. "Richard said that she was completely irrational and cried at the drop of a hat…you liked that one?"

"I didn't say I _liked_ either of them," Cara countered with a huff. "Just that the one without the confessor power was less annoying than the one _with_ it. But I…I'm glad that you're back to what passes for normal."

It was as close as Cara would get to admitting that she had missed Kahlan and that she had been worried that Zedd might not have been successful in putting them back together. Kahlan, of course, was thrilled by this small expression of emotion. To her credit, she managed not to gush over it and she merely gave Cara a nod and a smile. They returned to companionable silence, the only noise being the brush passing over the rough horse hair.

"So if I didn't do anything, why have you been avoiding me?"

Cara sighed. She should have known better than to believe that Kahlan would let her off so easily.

"Leave it, Confessor. It doesn't matter."

A hand came to cover hers on the brush, stilling her movements.

"Yes, it does," Kahlan told her, quietly. "Did…did one of them…try something?"

Cara had no patience for euphemisms.

"They both tried to seduce me," she stated, plainly, watching Kahlan's face turn scarlet. "But it's fine. I stopped it before they went too far."

"Before they wen-…how far did they go?" Kahlan whispered, her hand dropping from where it had been holding Cara's.

Cara's lips crept into a smile as she considered giving Kahlan a detailed description of how two people who looked exactly like her attempted to seduce Cara. But she didn't.

"Not too far," she repeated, turning back to her task. "Don't worry about it."

"Did…did you want them to go further?"

The whispered question caused a spike of pain to go through Cara's chest. Not unlike an agiel. She kept her eyes down.

"That's dangerous territory," she warned. "It's safer if you don't venture in."

A gentle hand on her cheek turned her face around and, for the first time that day, she found herself looking into _Kahlan's_eyes. And, just like always, she could feel the Confessor looking all the way into her soul.

"I'm not afraid of danger, Cara," Kahlan whispered.

Then she leaned in and kissed her. It was immediately different from kissing the other Kahlans. That paled into insignificance compared to this. Cara heard herself moan. She dropped the brush and pulled Kahlan in, deepening their contact. Kahlan's hands slid into her hair, holding her in place and thrusting her tongue into Cara's mouth, eliciting a whimper from the Mord'Sith.

When they parted, Cara steeled herself for the inevitable regret on Kahlan's face. It wasn't there. She was met with a shy smile and a faint blush as Kahlan dipped her head, looking up at Cara through her lashes.

"I didn't think it was fair that you had a memory of that and I didn't," she said, her mouth turning up at one side. "So…how did it measure up?"

Kahlan's smile was infectious and Cara could feel herself grinning like an idiot. She didn't care even a little bit.

"Let's just say that you're twice the woman they were," Cara drawled, pulling Kahlan in for another kiss.


End file.
